1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to disc players for a laser disc or the like and, more particularly, to a pickup feeding apparatus for a double-sided reproducing disc player.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is widely utilized an optical disc player which plays back a video signal or the like by using an optical disc such as a laser disc or the like as a recording medium. In this kind of disc player, an optical pickup device is generally opposed to a disc that is rotated at high speed by a spindle motor, and this optical pickup device is translated in the diametrical direction of the disc, whereby a signal recorded on the recording track of the disc is read out and then reproduced.
While a digital signal is generally recorded on both surfaces of the disc that is used by such disc player, the disc player includes a single optical pickup device that is opposed to only one side surface of the disc. Accordingly, as a method for reproducing both surfaces of the disc by using a single optical pickup head, it is proposed that, after one side surface of the disc, for example, is played back, the disc is once ejected from the disc player, turned over and then again loaded onto the disc player so that the other side surface of the disc is reproduced. Recently, a so-called double-sided reproducing disc player is proposed, in which, after the playback of one side of the disc is finished, the optical pickup device is inverted and moved to the opposite side surface of the disc so as to reproduce the other side surface of the disc (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-66744 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,465).
However, in the above conventional optical disc player which plays both side surfaces of the optical disc, such a double-sided disc player is not yet proposed, in which a transporting shaft (guide shaft) of an optical pickup is rotatably adjusted and the optical pickup is skewed in order to adjust the optical axis of a so-called optical pickup in accordance with the flexure of the disc to be perpendicular to the disc surface. For this reason, in the prior art, the skew adjustment mechanism based on the transport shaft of the optical pickup is disposed within a pickup supporting member on which the optical pickup is mounted.
Therefore, in the optical disc player for playing the double-sided disc, a weight of the pickup supporting member is increased so that the optical pickup cannot be moved smoothly and that the mechanism of the pickup supporting member becomes complicated. Further, when the guide shafts disposed on the upper and lower surface sides of the disc are respectively movably adjusted, the following problems arise. That is, when the optical pickup is inverted after one side surface of the disc is played by the optical pickup, or the optical pickup is moved to the inverting mechanism side, depending on the skew operation position of the optical pickup, a positional displacement occurs between the guide shaft and the inverting mechanism so that the optical pickup cannot be accurately and smoothly moved. As a result, the optical pickup cannot be inverted or the attitude of the inverted optical pickup cannot be brought in the correct one.
In addition, in the optical disc player for playing the double-sided disc, the inverting mechanism is rotatably moved in an arc fashion so that the inverting operation distance of the optical pickup is increased, which needs a lot of time for the optical pickup to move from one side surface to the other side surface of the disc.